There is an increasing demand to obtain a wide variety of information over telephone lines. Many different companies provide information services in a wide range of formats including voice messages, computerized data bases, facsimile data, etc. The variety of information these services provide is virtually limitless. Examples include news, weather and traffic information, sports information and stock ticker data. Information service providers also may take orders for products and services, or offer other kinds of interactive functions. Typically, each Information Service Provider (ISP) will connect the equipment to provide the information in facsimile, data or voice form to one or more telephone lines. In the existing telephone network, each line connected information source has a telephone number. Typically, to access that source, a caller dials the complete telephone number for that source. To access a different source, the caller must dial a different number.
Alternatively, one information service provider might operate more than one source, for example a newspaper has a headline news service, a sports section service, a business service, etc. If such a provider does not want to require a separate number for each service, the provider could use a PBX or Centrex system with an automated attendant type feature. Typically, the user would call one published number for the information service provider. The automated attendant system answers the call, and the caller dials in a selection identifying the provider's one service the current call should connect to. The PBX or Centrex would then connect the call to the appropriate information source. To reach a different information service provider, however, the caller must still know and use a different telephone number.
In the existing systems, whether one number identifies each actual source or identifies a collection of information services of one information provider, the numbers are all complete telephone numbers. If the call to the service provider is a local call, dialing requires seven digits. If the call is a long distance call, or the service uses an 800 or 900 type number, the telephone number dialed is ten digits. Remembering and using a collection of seven and ten digit numbers to access all information sources a telephone subscriber might be interested in is complicated and may actually discourage customers from using more than one or two different information service providers.
Clearly there is a need for a simpler access procedure in order to encourage increased public use of information services provided over the telephone network.
It has recently been proposed to use a three-digit access approach. Each information service provider would be assigned a three digit number, and the telephone network would route all calls to the service provider whenever a caller initially dialed those three digits. The three digit numbers would be "N11" type special dedicated numbers easily recognized by the telephone system, similar to the 911 number used for emergency calls and the 411 number used for directory assistance. The number of dedicated three digit numbers available, however, is quite limited. In fact there are currently only four such numbers, 211, 311, 511 and 711 not already in use. The available N11 type three digit numbers therefore constitute an extremely scarce resource. The proposed three digit access system would use up all four of the available N11 numbers. Another drawback of the proposed three digit access system is that the caller could access only four information service providers using the three digit numbers. One number would be dedicated to each information service provider.
Thus a need exists for a system using a short access number or code to a large number of information providers. To the extent that the system uses special dedicated numbers, such as N11 numbers, the system must use as few as possible of such dedicated numbers.
In a related field, an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) has been developed to provide centralized control of telephone services provided to customers through diversely located central office switching systems. In an AIN type system, central offices send and receive data messages from a Service Control Point (SCP) via a Switching Transfer Point (STP). At least some calls are then controlled through multiple central office switches using data retrieved from a data base in the SCP. In recent years, a number of new service features have been provided by such a network.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,020 issued Jul. 5, 1988, to Joseph V. Fodale, for example, suggests access authorization in a multiple office environment. The Fodale system restricts access to a long distance telephone network based on the status of the billing number associated with the call, i.e. delinquent. The access control is provided through multiple local and toll offices but is centrally controlled by a data base which stores account status information. The local office serving a calling telephone extends a toll call to the toll office of the toll network carrier. The toll office queries the data base via a CCIS link regarding the current status of the customer's account identified by the billing number associated with the call. The data base obtains the status information of the billing number in question and translates that status into a response message instruction to allow or disallow extension of the toll call through the toll network. The data base transmits the response message to the toll office via CCIS link, and the toll office disallows or extends the call through the toll network as instructed by the response message.
A number of the features provided by the prior art AIN type intelligent networks relate to specialized call processing of incoming calls, as discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,860 issued Mar. 4, 1980, to Roy P. Weber discloses a system for providing special processing of incoming calls via a number of local switching offices based on information stored in a central data base. The local and toll offices of the telephone network compile a call data message and forward that message via a CCIS link to the central data base, essentially a Service Control Point or SCP. The data base at the SCP translates the dialed INWATS number, included in the message, into a call control message. The call control message includes an unlisted destination telephone number, which is then returned to the offices of the network via CCIS link. The network uses the call control message to complete the particular call.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,611,094 and 4,611,096 both to Asmuth et al. disclose a system for providing custom incoming telephone call processing services to a corporate customer operating at geographically dispersed locations through a plurality of local office switches. A customer program stored in a central data base is accessed to provide instructions to the switches to complete incoming calls to customer locations in accord with special services defined by the corporate customer. Incoming calls to the customer are routed to an Action Control Point (ACP) which typically is a modified toll office. The ACP has a number of "primitive" call processing capabilities, such as providing voice prompts to callers and receiving additional caller inputs. The customer program controls the ACP's to string together the desired primitive call processing capabilities to process each call to the customer. Specified parameters stored in the program, such as time of day, caller location and data inputs responsive to the voice prompts, determine the final customer station to which each call should be completed. The customized call processing disclosed by Asmuth et al. can also include customized billing for calls, e.g. by splitting charges between the customer and the caller. The Asmuth et al. system sets up a billing record for each call in the ACP or toll office. Asmuth et al. also teach procedures for handling of calls directed to a corporate customer when the call serving office does not have all of the capabilities needed for processing the call in accord with the subscriber's stored program. In particular, upon recognition of the deficiencies of the call serving office, the Asmuth et al. system transfers call processing to a second office having adequate capabilities for completion of the call.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,718 issued Nov. 29, 1988, to Sandra D. McNabb et al. suggests centralized recording of call traffic information. The architecture is similar to that disclosed by the earlier discussed patents to Weber and Asmuth et al. to the extent that local and toll offices communicate with a central data base via CCIS link. The McNabb et al. system improves over the incoming call routing provided by the Weber patent and the two Asmuth et al. patents discussed above by adding a data gathering function to the centralized data base which stores the individual subscriber's call routing program. In McNabb et al. the central data processor provides call attempt records and a traffic data summary of all calls directed to a particular 800 number.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,267 issued Jul. 12, 1988, to Bernard J. Riskin teaches routing of an 800 number call, where the dialed number identifies a particular product or service, to the nearest dealer for the identified product or service. The toll office sends a message including the dialed 800 number and the area code of the caller to a data base which translates this into a standard ten digit telephone number for the nearest computer at a Customer/Dealer Service Company (CDSC). The telephone network then routes the call to this computer, which answers the call and provides a synthesized voice response. The computer uses call data and or Touchtone dialed information from the caller to identify the selected product or service and then accesses its own data base to find the telephone number of one or more nearby dealers in that product or service. The computer then calls the dealer and connects the original caller to the called dealer.
Several other patents use a network similar to the AIN type intelligent network to provide personalized services to individual subscribers, for example when they are away from their home telephone station.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,035 issued Jan. 26, 1982, to David S. Jordan et al. patent discloses a method of providing a person locator service through multiple exchanges of the switched telephone network. Each subscriber is assigned a personal number uniquely identifying the subscriber. An absent subscriber inputs a number to which calls are to be completed, such as the number where the subscriber can be reached, into a central data base. A caller wishing to reach the subscriber dials the number uniquely identifying that subscriber. In response to an incoming call directed to the unique number, a telephone switching office having access to CCIS sends the dialed number to the central data base referred to by Jordan et al. as an SSP. The data base retrieves the stored completion number for the called subscriber and forwards that number back to the switching office to complete the call. The subscriber can update the stored data from any telephone. Also, the subscriber can specify whether to charge calls via the person locator system to the subscriber or to the caller.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,373 issued Feb. 6, 1990, to Chinmei Lee et al. discloses a system for providing special telephone services to a customer on a personal basis, when the customer is away form his or her home base or office. A nationally accessible data base system stores feature data in association with personal identification numbers. A subscriber wishing to use personalized features while away from home base dials a special code from a station connected to any exchange which has access to the data base and presents the personal identification number. The corresponding feature data is retrieved from the data base and stored in the exchange in association with the station from which the request was initiated. The exchange then provides telephone service corresponding to the subscriber's personalized telephone features. A temporary office arrangement may be established in which the personalized features will be immediately available on incoming and outgoing calls for a period of time specified by the subscriber.
Further modifications of the AIN system allow a TELCO to customize the routing of telephone calls via a graphical programming language used on a specialized terminal by telephone company personnel.
As seen from the cited patents, the prior art AIN systems have not provided a single unified system for accessing information services from a wide variety of sources without providing separate numbers to reach each information provider and/or each information source.